This invention relates generally to cartons for shipping and storing books and more particularly to a carton having a protective end cell configuration and glue flaps which permit the carton to be sealed using conventional packaging apparatus.
Individual sales of books and mailing of those orders is wide-spread and it is therefor necessary to have a mailing carton which will protect the book during shipment. The package typically consists of a single book or a relatively small number of books with the result being that the thickness of the package is substantially less than its width or length. The possibility of shipping damage to the edges of hard bound books is a factor in the design of the carton for shipping those books. Elaborate end-cell configurations are available in the art but those configurations increase the cost since they can not be readily processed by high speed automatic packaging equipment, but instead must be processed by hand at greater cost. Also, elaborate end-cell configurations employ more material than would otherwise be desirable. What is therefore needed is a simple construction which may be used on automatic equipment yet which provides sufficient protection for the edges of the carton.
One known mailing carton which satisfied the requirement for a simple and inexpensive construction was made from a blank having a rectangular bottom panel having first and second end wall panels connected by vertical fold lines at first and second edges of the bottom panel. This carton included a rectangular top panel which was as wide as but shorter than the bottom panel. The end wall panels at either edge of the bottom panel were tapered inwardly. The top and bottom edges of both the top and bottom panels included side wall flaps connected to the panels along fold lines. A single glue flap extended from the end wall panel secured to the bottom panel opposite the end wall connecting the top and bottom panel. When the carton was folded, the single glue flap could be glued against the surface of the top panel. The side panel flaps of the bottom panel were brought into contact with the side panel flaps of the top panel at an angle (i.e., the outer surface of a wedge) to the top and bottom panels. Since these flaps lay in a different plane form the single glue flap, they had to be glued in a separate manual operation or using special packaging apparatus.